Fireworks without Celebration

Fewer communities had fireworks this year, but there was no skimping on the displays I saw around the Northeast spread out over the past week. The Fourth offers everyone a reliable, annual celebration of our heritage--security, freedom, and prosperity. Unfortunately I find in my recent travels, our current financial distress takes an increasing toll, rattling people's confidence.
 
First off, young people struggle to find work. Summer internships are scarce--even the ones for little or no pay. I feel good about the college age nephew who runs the produce aisle at the neighborhood supermarket in Chicago. Kids scramble for the odd parking attendant job at the local golf tournament. Finding employment for recently released inmates and parolees--always a tough task--becomes more monumental and inner city youth unemployment must be rising to ever higher, more uncomfortable levels.
 
The New England resort business has been sketchy like everywhere else. In New Hampshire, rows of Franconia Notch hotels and motels were empty last week, just a few days before the Fourth. Now the miserable spate of rainy weather wasn't helping, but the absence of vacationers in early July was striking.
 
Homes aren't selling in the northern Adirondacks, a notably poor section of the country, unless you own lakefront or hilltop acreage. One local who has his place up for sale succinctly told me: "People don't have money."  So well put.
 
You hear anecdotes about friends and family whose credit cards are no longer accepted, who can't meet co-op maintenance payments, or are struggling with their health care deductibles, which thanks to company cutbacks can approach $5,000 or $6,000. And we were not talking about the 50 million Americans without any health insurance. Furloughs, the end to 401K matches (how temporary will those be?), and job cuts forcing longer hours on remaining employees were all part of the cheery Fourth discussions around the grill. Two brawny guys I know who worked construction in now moribund upstate New York Rustbelt cities apply to become nurses and correction officers (but states can't afford so many prisons/inmates and that gets back to finding jobs for the parolees who are pushed back on the streets early).
 
The stock market has run out of gas, and gas prices trend higher--today's small drop aside.
 
The fireworks were a nice distraction.
 
PS: Last week I attended a convergence of fellow members of the Citistates Group. Mary Newsome, associate editor of the Charlotte Observer, penned this column following the meetings. She gives an interesting perspective on the special challenges in hot growth suburbs, part of the legacy of uncontrolled homebuilding.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/480/story/815414.html